£3.8bn hunt over for CSA

AFTER years of criticism and computer glitches the North-based Child Support Agency handed over its powers — and responsibility for billions of pounds in unpaid child support — to a new Government agency yesterday.

AFTER years of criticism and computer glitches the North-based Child Support Agency handed over its powers — and responsibility for billions of pounds in unpaid child support — to a new Government agency yesterday.

The Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission takes over responsibility for recovering £3.8bn in missed maintenance payments and will be based at CSA’s former HQ in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

The Commission has pledged to recover £2bn but has said that the remainder of the missing amount will probably never be paid.

A spokesman said: “Around half of the historic debt — about £2bn — is collectable, along with the new and tougher enforcement powers the Commission will be taking on.

“The Commission will use its powers to the full, to ensure that parents do not evade their responsibilities.”

Child support payments are claimed directly from the absent mother or father, so lone parents lose out if they are not made.

The CSA currently collects £36m in payment arrears per month, an increase of 40 per cent in the past year.

In total, around 68pc of the money claimed is successfully paid.

Some parents make themselves untraceable to avoid paying out, the Commission spokesman said. He added: “We’ve made a lot of progress in identifying people and tracking them down. But there will always be a number of people who will be able to evade the system.

“The message to every non-resident parent is that you remain responsible. We’re not letting anybody off.”

He said the Commission has no intention of asking the Government for permission to write off the debt.

The Commission will have new powers, which will mean staff do not have to go to court to take action against parents who have failed to make payments.

Since it was established in 1993, the CSA has been attacked for not delivering on its mission. It was thrown into disarray in 2003 after a new computer system created a huge backlog in its operations. The Commons public accounts committee called the CSA one of the “greatest public administration disasters of recent times”.

In 2006, the then Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton said it would be scrapped as it had a backlog of 300,000 cases and had little prospect of clawing back some £3bn in maintenance payments.